And if children, heirs also heirs of God, and Christ's joint heirs; if indeed we suffer with [him], that we may also be glorified with [him].
Because we are God's children, we are also His heirs — and heirs together with Christ Himself. The verse ties something else to that title: a shared path of suffering now, leading to shared glory.
The verse does not argue toward heirship in stages. The relationship itself already carries it.
A Christian is an heir, as well as a child, an "heir of God" and a "fellow heir with Christ," Rom. 8:17… The inheritance goes with our being children: "if children, then heirs." The moment a person is in the position of a child, there is an heir.
The verse says "heirs of God." How far does that reach?
His witness to our spirit is this — that we are children of God. But if children, we are His heirs. This accordingly leads, as connected with the deliverance of the body, to the inheritance we are to possess. The extent is what God Himself, so to speak, possesses — the universe of God, whatever will be under Christ: and what will not? As He has made all, so He is heir of all. We are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.
"Fellow heirs" — older translations say "joint-heirs" — means the believer's future is bound to Christ's own. One writer finds the picture of it in Eve, the first woman, made as Adam's companion.
We shall see that God shows the church not only as enjoying the present blessing of communion, but also as joint-heir with Christ of His coming inheritance. When believers look at the glory of Christ, they are looking at their own glory, since they are "heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." We see a picture of this in Eve. Eve was not a part of the creation, nor was she lord of it as Adam was; but she shared with him everything he inherited.
The wording is exact: with Him, not for Him. That difference decides who the verse includes.
Note, though: this is suffering with Christ, not for Him. To suffer for Christ is a privilege, a special gift of God; Phil. 1:29. You cannot be a Christian without suffering with Christ. How could the Spirit of Christ give us a different mind from the mind that was in Christ as He passed through this sad world?
Public persecution is not the only thing in view. The grief comes from carrying Christ's life through a world set against Him.
This suffering comes from having life in Him while we pass through a world where everything is against Him… Divine life here is surrounded by all that works out its own misery, estrangement, and rebellion against Him. So if suffering is the necessary result of that, it is an immense privilege to suffer with Christ, cheered along the road by the prospect of sharing His glory.
Our reigning with Christ does not depend in any way on our present suffering. Instead, suffering here is the appointed path for those who will share Christ's kingdom with Him.
The last phrase looks past a new body. It points to a public moment, when the whole universe sees the children of God with Christ.
The glory comes in again. Tribulation is the present thing, but the bright glorious future is coming. To me it seems impossible for a Christian not to suffer with Him… This goes beyond having glorified bodies; that happens when the Lord comes, but this at His appearing. When He comes to be glorified in His saints, we shall be glorified together before the eyes of the whole universe. What a future opens up before us! Glory upon glory! It is a privilege to suffer with Him — all privilege.
- Child — it starts with relationship, not achievement. The moment someone is a child, there is an heir.
- Heir — the inheritance is as large as what God Himself has: everything that will come under Christ.
- Co-heir — like Eve with Adam, believers share everything that is Christ's. His glory is their glory.
- Co-sufferer — this is suffering with Christ. His Spirit in us cannot hold a different mind while we live in a world set against Him. Suffering for Him is a further gift.
- Co-glorified — the suffering does not buy the glory. It is the appointed road to it, and it ends in glory shown before the whole universe.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy [to be compared] with the coming glory to be revealed to us.
Paul, the writer of this letter, has just called God's children heirs. As heirs they will share everything with Christ — but the road to that inheritance runs through suffering (Romans 8:17). So here he puts both on the scales. How does present pain measure against coming glory?
"I reckon" is the language of careful accounting, not wishful thinking. Paul does not shut his eyes to pain. He weighs it.
Christian sufferings may be great. They often are. Yet see how he estimates them. He weighs them in the sober balances of divine truth against the glory to be revealed. He compares present sufferings with eternal glory. Weighed like this, the momentary trial of faith and patience proves to be as nothing. There is no doubt in his mind. It is a deliberate measurement of truth with truth. He sets real suffering against most real, most certain, eternal glory.
And no one was more qualified to do the sum. Paul suffered more than almost anyone for his faith.
Who was ever better able to reckon on this matter than Paul? Bonds and imprisonments awaited him in every city. His was a life of constant suffering with the One he so loved to serve. Yet he says the sufferings are nothing next to the glory. What a solution of the perplexing paradox of all creation! The groans of battlefields shall cease. The misery, poverty and degradation of the multitude shall come to an end. So shall the sufferings of creation.
The suffering in view is not punishment. It flows from belonging to Christ while living in a world that rejected Him.
Co-heirs, co-sufferers, co-glorified — this is the order of Christian life and hope. And notice: we have the whole inheritance of God. So this suffering flows from the glorious position God has brought us into. It flows from our sharing in the life of Christ Himself.
Notice the wording: the glory will not only appear to believers. They are part of the display itself.
The day of His glory will be a great day for us; we shall see Him glorified, and we shall be glorified as His companions. He says to His Father, "The glory that you have given me I have given to them" (John 17:22). And the world will see us displayed in that glory. By this the world is to know that the Father sent the Son, and has loved us as He has loved Him.
This verse also opens a new section. From here Paul widens the lens from the believer's pain to the pain of the whole created world.
From that point till we reach verse 27 we find ourselves in an atmosphere charged with groaning. That word occurs three times in these verses. No surprise: the present age lies in the "bondage of corruption," and the age to come will bring the "liberty of the glory."
Once the future filled Paul's vision, present trouble lost its power to stop him.
His mind is full of the future — absorbed with tomorrow. He is like a schoolboy waiting for a holiday, who can think of nothing else. The glory is so present that he calls the affliction momentary. The present sufferings had lost their hindering power, because he saw the power of God in them.
Knowing God as Father does not numb us to the world's sorrow — the opposite is true. But it puts that sorrow in its true proportion.
Knowing God as our Father only deepens our sense of the sorrows and miseries of the world we pass through. So does the blessedness of the glory ahead. But these sufferings cannot compare with the glories that are coming. The sufferings are passing, the glories are eternal.
Think of the verse as Paul's ledger — five entries, one result:
- Weighed. "I reckon" is a deliberate calculation. Paul measures real suffering against real, eternal glory. The scales refuse to balance.
- Qualified. The man doing the math faced chains in every city. His verdict comes from experience, not comfort.
- Included. Suffering is no detour from sonship. It is the appointed order: co-heirs, co-sufferers, co-glorified.
- Displayed. The glory shines out in us. The world will see believers with Christ as proof of the Father's love.
- Freed. When the eternal fills the vision, passing pain loses its power to hinder. The sufferings pass; the glories last forever.